Roxanne Learns To Fly
by petethehotdog
Summary: Four years after her big accident, Roxanne, in a promise to her brother, tries to learn how to fly a broom. Written for the QLFC S3 LL Finals. Note that this will be my only Next-Gen story ever, unless next year's QLFC season forces me to do another one.


**Disclaimer:** I don't intend to make a profit off of anything you recognize.

 **A/N:**

Hufflepuff

Beater 1

Finals

Roxanne Weasley

11\. (word) gliding

15\. (creature) owl

Word Count: 1,139

* * *

The long awaited day had finally arrived. Not for Roxanne, though. She was dreading this day, and had been for weeks. All of it was thanks to a stupid promise she had made to her older, technically, twin brother: Fred.

It was the day she would learn how to fly.

Sure, she had taken the flying lesson that all first years went to. But, similar to her Uncle Harry, the lesson was cut short due to a premature take off injury.

And sure, her parents were famous Quidditch stars, and her elder brother Fred was the best beater by far to walk through the Hogwarts halls since her father had left, now twenty years ago, but that didn't mean that she could fly a broom!

No, the one time she had attempted to ride one was at the lesson, where her broom took off early and she crashed straight into a tree.

Even four years later, the memory of the incident made Roxanne cringe and subconsciously rub the left side of her abdomen. She could still clearly remember the pain she felt, both when the branch impaled her side and the treatments she received from Madame Pomfrey for said injuries. Sure, it isn't as bad as regrowing all the bones in one of your arms, but still; having to regrow three ribs and seal up a punctured lung is no picnic in the park, either. Some days, she could swear that the abominable taste of Skelegro came back to plague her mouth again.

So it was understandable why Roxanne Weasley was not looking forward to the upcoming day. However, she was a Gryffindor, and a soon to be fifth year at that. So, proving herself worthy of the house she was placed in, and to make her brother shut up, she mustered up all of her Gryffindor courage to face flying.

Luckily for her, she had gotten up early. Early enough that Fred was still asleep, where he would remain for an extra five hours after she stunned him. So luckily, she was able to fly alone at her own pace.

Quietly, Roxanne made a quick breakfast of pancakes and bacon on the Burrow's stove top and ate it, before grabbing her Nimbus 2009 broom and heading out to the pitch in the yard.

Remembering the beginning of the dreaded flying lesson, she properly mounted the Nimbus broom and began to mentally prepare herself for the flight. She took some deep breaths, and she counted to ten a few times, and soon, she was ready.

She took off, and flew very slowly just a couple of inches above the ground.

 _This isn't so bad,_ she thought to herself. _Maybe flying could be fun after all._

 _This is a bit slow and far too low, though. I should probably go higher to be a real flier. Ha, I'm such a good rhymer!_

Roxanne then leaned forward a little bit, and willed her broom to speed up. And speed up it did. Soon, ten minutes had elapsed, and she was going about twenty kilometers per hour. She was still only a few feet off the ground, but it was better than a mere couple of inches.

Within the hour, she had finally gotten comfortable on her broom, and had decided to fly out to the nearby lake. On her way there, her brown tawny owl named Mandy joined her at the relaxing pace.

"Morning Mandy! How are you doing, little girl?"

Mandy hooted and nipped Roxanne's fingers in reply, signaling a happy response, before she flew out ahead of Roxanne, as if she were challenging to companion to learn to fly faster.

Roxanne saw the challenge-initiating action and willed her broom to pick up speed to catch up to Mandy. But Mandy would speed up every time Roxanne got close. Soon, Mandy took a dive and skimmed the surface of the water. Roxanne, in turn, dipped down and glided just above the lake surface.

"Look Mandy! I'm gliding across the lake! I bet you never thought you would see this!"

Mandy swooped back to her owner and nipped at her fingers playfully.

They stayed like that for a while, until Mandy zoomed ahead, prompting Roxanne to follow. Mandy gradually turned around and headed to the house, Roxanne staying with her every step of the way. When Mandy flew through an open window in the Burrow, Roxanne, too big to fit through the small square opening, had to land and enter the house through the kitchen.

After opening the door, Roxanne was very surprised when, upon entering the kitchen, she encountered her brother, sitting there with her owl on his shoulders.

"Uhh . . . Umm . . . Morning?" Roxanne stuttered out.

"Morning Roxie," came the reply from Fred as he grabbed his spoon and transported cereal to his mouth.

A couple of seconds of silence ensues while he chewed, before he noticed the object in her hand, and he swallowed quickly.

"Whoa! Roxie! You have a broom in your hand! What did I miss?"

"Not mu- Well, a lot, really. I am now comfortable riding on a broom, and Mandy joined me in riding around the lake for about an hour." Mandy hooted in agreement to her words.

"Can we go out and play later? After I finish my breakfast, that is." he trailed off.

"Sure. I'd be happy to do that. Finish your cereal and meet me at the pitch in half an hour, okay?"

"Okay."

* * *

She was sitting there, silently, on her blue four poster bed, contemplating on the long day she had gone through. After Fred had finished his breakfast, they met at the pitch and played there until dinner, completely forgetting about lunch in their many hours of fun.

First, Fred had tested her to check and see that she could in fact fly, like she had claimed. After passing the test, he chased her around for a little while, before it escalated into a two hour game of tag.

After that, he began teaching her the art of the beater, which she proved to be a natural at, continuing the family trend.

And, for the final two hours before they were called inside to wash up for dinner, they practiced some drills. Apparently, given her newfound talent, Fred became determined to train her up to make the house team. He promised to train her intensely to prepare her for the season during the final five weeks of summer.

Dinner was great as always, tonight being chicken and taters, rounding out the day.

 _All in all, I wasn't dreading anything bad at all. Flying is great,_ she thought to herself. _I could totally get used to this._

And, just before her drowsiness caught up to her, she made one final declaration:

"Today was a good day."


End file.
